Now
there's some sad things known to man
But ain't too much sadder than
the tears of a clown
When there's no one around
~Smokey
Robinson
Robin Williams, a very respected and talented actor/comedian,
recently committed suicide after a long battle with cocaine, alcohol, and
depression. When I heard that he had
hanged himself, I was in such shock and felt terrible for the man who has made
me laugh so many times throughout my life. All I can say is there are but a handful of
comedians who were so good at the brutal gladiator pit of stand up comedy as
well as dramatic movie roles as well.
The world has suffered a tremendous loss. A shining star that comes but once every few
lifetimes in our world is now gone forever.
How could this have happened to, what on the surface, appeared like such
a happy and successful man? For God’s sake, the man was absolutely hilarious,
why would such a funny and brilliant person ever feel they had no other options
left in this world, but to die at their own hands?
It turns out that, unfortunately, depression and
other mental illnesses are extremely prevalent in our society, with over 22% of
Americans over the age of 18 suffering from some type of mental disorder
according to depressionperception.com.
This is equal to over 46 million individuals. This same source also indicates that 90% of
suicide victims in the United States suffer from a mental disorder that is
diagnosable, demonstrating how the two can be related. Impulse control disorders are predominant as
well, affecting over 24% of the population according to
psychiatrictimes.com. It also reports
that many impulse control disorders can be more common among men than
women.
Robin Williams specifically suffered from
depression, as do many other suicide victims says the Washington Post. His battle against alcohol and cocaine were
also ongoing throughout his life. This
source also outlines Williams’ entrances to rehab including a stay about two
months ago, and another reported back in 2006.
He entered rehab in 2006 after a relapse in his alcohol addiction after
being sober for twenty years. The
article goes on to explain how depression was a long fought battle for
Williams’ as it is for many.
Depression is not always a disorder that can be
treated and expected to simply go away.
Many people who suffer from depression, although they seek help,
continue to endure it their entire lives. It is something akin to being an
alcoholic, once you are an alcoholic, you are for the rest of your life because
any certain trigger, crisis, or pressure point can cause a sober person to go
right back to alcohol no matter how many years of sobriety they have managed to
live. It also explains how suicides are
normally extremely impulsive acts that are prompted by depression and other
mental disorders.
An article from aol.com discusses another recent
battle with alcoholism and mental disorder.
Elizabeth Vargas, (an ABC News Reporter) recently checked herself into
rehab due to her ongoing battle with the disease of alcoholism. Vargas claims that the reason she has
continuously turned to alcohol is due to panic attacks and anxiety that she has
suffered from since childhood. Cases
like these, are way too familiar and the number of people who self-medicate is
extreme because the treatments that we have readily available to people such as
Vargas, for some reason, just don’t seem to be working in the long run.
According to Communities Digital
News, depression is so common among comedians that the Hollywood Laugh Factory
has an office where therapists are available for the comedians that perform.
Isn’t it ironic that the highly intelligent and hilarious people who make us
laugh the hardest, often suffer the worst cases of depression? The source
also reports that the eccentric behavior of individuals such as Robin Williams
and other comedians often stems from bipolar disorder (an illness with which
Williams had also been diagnosed). Many other famous people have suffered
from mental illness, depression being the most common, such as Winston Churchill,
Billy Joel, Owen Wilson, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Princess Diana.
A troubling part of this is that
there is such a negative stigma associated with bipolar disorder, anxiety
disorders, depression, and other mental illness. This causes people to try and
ignore the seriousness of these illnesses and the importance of seeking
treatment for what can become a deadly illness.
ABC News describes the close tie between depression
and substance abuse. The two ailments
occur at a tremendously high rate in combination with each other. Depression can lead to substance abuse, with
individuals trying to find ways to cope when treatment is either ineffective or
not readily available. Substance abuse
can also lead to depression, creating a very closely and many times deadly
relationship between the two.
Williams had access to treatment and the means to
attend rehab for this terrible disorder which sadly still was not enough, but
many do not share the same ability to treatment and have nowhere to turn. Mentalillnesspolicy.org states that 250,000
of the reported 744,000 homeless individuals suffer from some type of untreated
psychiatric illness, and this number only continues to escalate. So the next time you are in a bad mood and you
think a homeless person should just “get a job,” keep in mind that most people
in the right frame of mind would probably rather not live on the street and beg
for their meals. The homeless person’s
mental and physical health is generally far worse than those with homes. Many of those who become homeless battle some
type of mental disorder and have no means to treatment. The lack of treatment, in turn makes it
harder for them to function and carry out every day lives.
More and more people are being diagnosed with
disorders, many of which are heavily medicated, which in some cases cause
extreme side effects. Many children and
adolescents suffer from ADD and ADHD specifically and there has been a rise in
the number of children and adolescents being diagnosed recently. Additudemag.com reports that 1 to 3 children
in every classroom of 30 students suffer from ADHD/ADD. This source reports a laundry list of
consequences that these children suffer including but not limited to defiance,
serious learning problems, comprehension problems, language deficits, poor
memory, and a higher rate of school drop out.
So what is being done to help these children?
Many children are treated with medications
according to psychcentral.com, but medications alone may never be
successful. Commonly used medications
include Ritalin, Concerta, Metadate, Dexedrin, and Adderall. These medications have a long list of side
effects including reduced appetite, irritability, depression, anxiety, and
sometimes side effects can be as serious as psychosis. So the real question is, do the so-called
benefits of these medications outweigh the side effects that many of these
children encounter and the unknown long-term effects of medications that affect
the development of children? This source also reports that there are many other
ways to help deal with ADD/ADHD including behavior therapy, adequate attention,
and more healthy living and diets.
Mental illness affects us in other ways. For
instance, our prison system is one of the largest housing units for individuals
with mental disorders. An article from hrw.org
points out that over the past six years, the number of inmates with mental
disorders has quadrupled. Over 50% of
all inmates report mental health problems.
This number does not include those who go without reporting it. One of the main complaints is severe
depression. This correlates to a number
of 1.25 million inmates battling these disorders. This rate is five times higher than the rate
of mental health disorders present in the general population outside of the
prison system. Surprisingly, this number
is even higher for incarcerated women, with almost two-thirds experiencing
mental health issues.
The even more troubling fact pointed out by hrw.org
is that prisons are not operationally equipped to deal with mental illnesses,
nor do most who are incarcerated receive much concern or compassion for the
mental disorders that may have been the major reason they are locked up in the
first place. The thought that pops into
my head is although these people are incarcerated inmates; does untreated
mental illness have something to do with what landed them in prison in the
first place? Is our society in general
not able to handle mental issues and problems, such as depression and impulse
control, which can in turn increase the amount of people in prison, or who
become homeless? If these people had
been given adequate treatment could their lives have turned out differently?
All hard questions, but my general feeling is, yes, if mental illness was
diagnosed and treated as early as possible---we would have less people
incarcerated or living on the streets.
In my mind, it is analogous to the morbid obesity problems we are currently
experiencing in the United States. If we educated and treated children and
adults much more aggressively in an attempt to lessen the rates of obese
individuals, we would obviously have fewer people dying of heart attacks,
diabetes, strokes, and other weight-related illnesses.
It is not only the prison inmates and
homeless that we should be concerned about. NBC News reports that 1 in 8
soldiers returning from deployment are diagnosed with PTSD. This number
does not include other mental illnesses that may affect them upon arrival to
the United States again. NBC News also says that less than half of these
diagnosed soldiers seek treatment for the disorder due to negative stigmas
surrounding PTSD and out of fear of possibly hurting their careers. There
have been many violent events in recent years linked to soldiers returning from
overseas. An article from worldissues360.com reports that combat soldiers are
more likely to engage in violent crimes than non-combat soldiers and civilians.
Many undergo extreme turmoil due to the emotional and physical toll combat
has on them.
The Washington Post identifies that the largest
barrier to mental health care is the cost.
As of right now, the United States spends approximately 113 billion
dollars on mental health treatment every year, and even with this amount of money
being spent, 45% of those with mental health disorders report that the reason
they do not have access to mental health treatment is due to its price. Even though mental health problems are
increasing, the budget to deal with the issue is decreasing.
Due to our country’s recent economic recession,
states have opted to reduce the mental health budget by 1.8 billion
dollars. Many people with mental
disorders receive disability, versus early treatment which could possibly make
them more functional and productive in our society, which is also a huge burden
on the system.
As usual, our government does not recognize the
long term picture that mental illness related issues are going to end up
costing us a lot more in terms of loss of life and economics because we are
ignoring the causes and failing to emphasize early treatment. We seem to have
no problems building prisons to put away all of the “defective” people, but do not
have a care in the world how the “defective” people got that way. It’s like that old joke that a famous
comedian used to tell. He would tell a
newlywed to turn to his wife and ask him, “is your wife a great lover?” The
excited and happy newlywed says, “Why yes, she is a great and passionate lover!!”
Then, the comedian would ask the funny and difficult question to answer, “Do
you have any idea how she got that way?” The point obviously being, things
don’t just “happen,” something leads to them being that way over a period of
time.
Employers also suffer a financial toll due to
employees who have mental illnesses. The
Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. The law was meant to give those with
disabilities (which include mental illnesses) the right to disclose their
disorders and receive necessary accommodations.
Psychcentral.com outlines the significance of this law, and how many
employers do not correctly follow the law in order to avoid the strain of
hiring individuals with disabilities. If
an employee discloses this information to the employer, the employer is
obligated to provide necessary accommodations, which can include specific work
hours and quieter workspaces, which may become burdensome and expensive to
employers who therefore attempt to avoid hiring people that may require them.
When is the
last time you looked for a job? If you do suffer from any mental issues (or any
physical condition that could potentially affect a job prospect), even
extremely mild ones, did you even think of mentioning that you take, or have
taken, medication or have received counseling for any type of mental disorder?
Of course not, the first thing you think about is, “I need this job and I have
to take care of my family,” “I cannot be disclosing issues regarding my mental
stability, even if I am totally fine, if I ever hope to land a job and keep my
problems out of my personnel file.”
As referenced above, a major reason people choose
not to seek treatment is because of the stigma associated with mental
disorders. The Washington Post reveals
that 66% of people had made the decision not receive treatment because they
felt it would be easier to solve the problem on their own. Mayoclinic.org reflects on the how strong the
stigma towards mental illness is and how it inhibits many from seeking
treatment. Many family members do not
understand the issue, and even some parents are reluctant to seek treatment for
their children because of what others may think or say. They simply do not want
their child’s “record” to indicate that they are anything less than so-called
perfect. Apt.rcpsych.org reports that in
a study of 156 parents and spouses who had a first hand family member with
mental illness, half tried to conceal or deny the illness when asked about
it.
Autism and Asperger syndrome are other illnesses
that are on the rise and can be extremely detrimental to children. Psychologytoday.com explains how the rise of
autism diagnoses is unknown, even though the number has increased
dramatically. In 1996, a study showed
that 4 or 5 cases of autism were present in every population of 10,000. A more recent study has shown that this
fractional amount has increased to about 100 cases per a population of
10,000. One explanation for this is that
the term for autism has been broadened dramatically over the past few decades,
including more instances and individuals.
It is also more commonly noticed and therefore diagnosed.
Asperger syndrome according to ghr.nlm.nih.gov, is
part of the autism spectrum, and is defined as a group of conditions that
mainly affect communication and social interaction. This same source also reveals that the
estimates for how many people are affected by this syndrome vary
drastically. Estimates range from 1 in
every 250 to 1 in every 5,000 children.
Children who are diagnosed with Autism or
Asperger’s go on to experience side effects later on in life as adults. Autismspeaks.org explains how those diagnosed
with Asperger’s specifically can face limited or inappropriate social
interactions, repetitive speech, the inability to understand the social issues
or needs or others, and many other so-called awkward moments throughout their
lives.
There are many organizations set up that allow
people to donate money and time to help fight autism. There is no cure, but ninds.nih.org explains
that with continued research into the illness, a cure is hopeful. There are treatment plans in place that
include educational and behavioral interventions, medications, and other types
of therapy. Research continues to
progress regarding the issue, in the hopes of finding a cure and better medical
treatments.
The Kelty Mental Health Resource Center, reveals
that there seems to be a very distinctive connection between autism and other
mental disorders. The precise numbers
regarding the connection vary, but it has become more apparent in recent
years. Most studies suggest that between
about 50 and 75 percent of all children diagnosed with autism suffer from some
other mental disorders as well. One main
mental health problem that goes hand in hand normally with autism is
anxiety. One study reports that up to
84% of people living with autism suffer from anxiety related difficulties as
well.
As
you can see, the mental issues suffered by different segments of our society
affect all of us dramatically and in ways that we probably have never even
thought about. The failure to recognize and admit that problems exist—and
refusal to treat mental disorders—only serves to compound mental issues that
are not going to solve themselves. As we saw with Robin Williams, serious
mental disorders require a lifetime of work, and even then, tragedies still
occur because no treatment is perfect and the frailty of the human mind can
succumb to intense emotions and feelings based on mood and impulse that can
lead to loss of liberty in the case of prison inmates, homes and family in the
case of the homeless, extreme mental trauma for combat veterans, and the loss
of life for those who simply see no relief on the horizon and ultimately give
up hope.
My
sincere request to all of those who personally have experienced mental issues
or have friends and loved ones who are going through an extreme rough patch, I
urge you to do the best that you can to provide support and do not pretend that
that mental illness does not exist, or is something to be embarrassed about. Time and advances in medicine and treatment
have shown us that all is not lost when a person hits a low point in their life,
or has biological imbalances that affect their ability to function. We should always be ready to lend our support
in a time of need rather than avoid, judge, or ignore serious problems that do
not go away by themselves.
God
bless Robin Williams and his family. I wish someone would have been there when
he really needed them and I am sorry that sometimes the very best that humanity
has to offer is senselessly taken away from us too early. But from all of this
tragedy, the open discussion and dialog that has resulted from Mr. Williams’
death is still something positive that this great comedian has left us as yet
another part of his enduring legacy.
~Leonardo
G. Renaud
